KTC hosts aSTEAM Village students

  Wednesday, July 27, 2016 2:00 AM
  News

Pittsburg, KS

In the summer of 2015, students from the Kansas City-based aSTEAM Village visited the Kansas Technology Center at Pittsburg State to check out all that the facility has to offer.

“And our students enjoyed themselves so much, they wanted to come back this year,” said aSTEAM Executive Director William Wells.

Nearly 50 students from aSTEAM Village visited the KTC on July 21 and received a hands-on lesson in the various technologies within the Pitt State School of Construction. They worked with virtual reality machines, augmented reality programs, machine simulators and more.

The visit, Wells said, helps enhance aSTEAM’s mission of inspiring students and families to pursue education and career pathways in science, technology, engineering, arts and math (STEAM), through community-based project learning and innovative programs.

“Our students don’t have regular access to some of the incredible resources that Pitt State has in its Kansas Technology Center,” Wells said. “So coming down here and exposing them to the technology and the professors really helps spark that fire inside of them to pursue various types of skills and future careers.”

Assistant Professor Bill Strenth said the College of Technology enjoys being able to give students from across the region these types of opportunities.

“We know we’re quite fortunate to have so much state-of-the-art technology here in our facility,” Strenth said. “Having the chance to see the kids’ faces when they get to use it for the first time is such a great feeling. They have fun with it, they learn from it and it reminds us of why we all got into education in the first place.”

During their visit to Pittsburg, the aSTEAM Village students also spent time at Pitsco Education.

“Pittsburg has a lot going on in terms of technology education,” Wells said. “This truly is a wonderful place to show students just what is possible in a variety of fields.”

For more information about the aSTEAM Village, visit http://www.asteamvillage.org.